AMBULANCE sign from what?

A

Attila Bethlenfalvy

Purchased last month sight unseen via phone conversation. Arrived while on latest road trip. Paint loss is marginally worse than mental image conveyed from description, neat regardless. 16" long, paint and gold leaf on metal. Doesn't appear to have been an outdoor sign. Full length mounting flange across bottom is on a 110-115 degree angle, not 90, and was made that way.

Obviously prewar. The more I look at it the more I lean towards teens-'20s ambulance window sign and suspect much older than initially thought. Ideas?

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Certainly possible Steve and that is what seller initially proposed. If displayed vertically, whatever it was mounted to must have tapered away. Had it been above windshield, roof would have sloped 10-15% towards rear of vehicle.
 
the crown in a 20s car would still be at the b pillar the slope would be to the front over the windshield. but it would still have a mount either way. it could be a desk sitter, front door to office or window display. the problem with this stuff is once removed with out documentation one will never know how this one was used. or when it was removed and reused in a different fashion. but most of the car signs I have seen were cast and polished with a black background. this one painted would be more of inside or office kind of thing. that would be my guess.
 
I'm thinking more towards horse drawn? The roofs on most early cars were angled downward in front, whereas a lot of horse drawn vehicles had flat roofs, so the sign would be angled downward slightly so you could read it. A horse drawn ambulance would have a higher roof too, so it would make sense that the sign would be angled slightly down.

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ambulance sign

Could this be a behind the windshield glass sign? Set it on the dash inside the car and it would be out of the weather. Of course there is the thing about how it was mounted. Like ED said, without documentation it is a guessing game.
Mike
 
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